Rogers reaches first WTA final in Bad Gastein

Rising American Shelby Rogers hadn’t reached a WTA quarterfinal prior to this week, but the 21-year-old has exceeded expectations by advancing to her first tour final in Bad Gastein, Austria.

Rogers, who advanced through qualifying to reach the main draw at the clay-court event, recorded the biggest win of her career on Saturday by defeating world No. 14 Sara Errani of Italy, 7-6, 6-3. The 21-year-old fought off two set points in the opening-set tiebreak and shocked the stadium court crowd by breaking Errani at 4-3 before serving out the match. Errani has reached the quarterfinals or better each of the last three years at the French Open; she reached the final in 2012.

Earlier in the week, Rogers recorded her first Top 20 victory by defeating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in the second round. The American enjoyed success on red clay last year by winning her first WTA main draw match last year in Strasbourg, France, then following that up by reaching the second round of the French Open.

The world No. 147 is guaranteed to land just outside of the Top 100 when the latest rankings are released on Monday. However, she will jump to around No. 85 if she can win her first WTA title this week.

Rogers will play No. 4 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the championship match on Sunday.